Echoes
by Saailor Andromeda
Summary: Something's missing. Something is missing and I only know it by what the echoed memories are telling me. (ONE SHOT)


Something about the air in this room feels different. Empty, as though it should not be, as if I am not the only person who should be breathing it. The spaces are filled, but pointlessly. The bed is large, but I sleep only on one side of it. There are two night stands. I need only one. The bathroom attached to the room has two sinks. I walk to the full-size mirror on the wall. Even it seems to be purposefully too large for just me to fit in it, even as close as I am. I tilt my head, not comprehending why I've felt like this for the past few weeks. My reflection stares back. We've always been here in Tokyo… haven't we? I run my fingers over the glass, leaving marks where I dirty the reflection. Everything feels so out of place, as if it was all in place not long ago. I remember heartbreak. I remember teenage girls; angry, but then soft and loving. I remember my sisters; lost and hungering for more of something, but then found, all of us together. The memories are vague, but there is a piece missing. I cannot place it, cannot find any idea of what it could possibly be about. Someone is missing from the picture, from this house, where they belong. I'm not sure who or why.

"Petz!" Berthier's high-pitched voice pierces my thoughts. "We're going to be late _again _if we don't leave right now!"

I incline my head towards her, "I'm coming."

I want to ask her questions as I follower her through the hallway to the kitchen. I'm not sure if she's missing all of the memories that I'm missing, if she's as lost as I am. She doesn't seem to be. None of them seem to be. I'm not even sure when we opened the makeup kiosks around Juban, I just remember them being there. As if they've always been there, with us inside of them, happy and thriving. But that can't be right, can it?

Koan is staring into the compact mirror in her hand, assuring that her liquid eyeliner hasn't smudged on the trip between her bedroom and the table where she sits. She doesn't look up as I pass. "How are you feeling today, Petz?"

"Same as always," I mutter with a shrug, reaching to grab the tea cup that Calaveras indicated was mine as soon as I entered the kitchen. I finish it in one gulp. "All right, let's get going!"

I've worked too hard to sound cheerful. It's draining my energy. Outside, on our way to the bus station, a young man whistles under his breath as we pass. My sisters giggle amongst each other and I clench my fists and tighten my jaw. I can't standmen. My chest feels empty.

My bus arrives and Koan glances at me, "You'll be okay at the west shop by yourself, right?"

I force a smile and present it to her, some semblance of assurance, and climb onto the bus.

Tokyo is a beautiful city, or at least what I've seen of it. Part of me feels like I've been here my entire life, and the other part feels like I've been here, but not in this time – as if that makes any sense. It doesn't leave me alone, nags in the back of my mind all day and every day. I woke up one day in that bed, with the memories I don't really have, and it took all of me not to lose my mind. None of the pieces have fit themselves together. I don't talk about it much.

I stare down at my hands as the bus makes another stop. I have four more until I have to get off. There are plenty of seats open, so I am both puzzled and uncomfortable when a man takes the empty seat to my left. I press my legs together and sit as near the window as I can manage.

"Good morning," he says in a kind voice. My stomach drops and my head splits. My memory's trying to recover something, I assume.

I look at him without turning my head first, but it finally follows my eyes. His eyes are blue, and the morning sunlight is glinting off of them just the right way. His hair is dark and appears blue. He's so familiar! But I can't figure out how. Instead, I smile, "Good morning," and bow my head to him before returning to staring at my hands.

"You own the makeup kiosks, right?" He asks. Such a strange question coming from a man. "I pass by sometimes. You and your sisters, I'm assuming, are really great saleswomen. Like you were born to do your job." He favors me with a bright smile. "I'm Saphir."

His gaze is warm. It's comfortable and, above all, familiar. My heart skips a beat and I feel stupid for it. I don't even know him. "Petz." He doesn't get off at the stop with me. I look up as I'm stepping off, and I see his shoulders shaking, a hand covering his face. He's… crying. Did I say something wrong?

That night, I dream I am chasing a man and I can't catch up to him. He is yelling, but I'm not sure what about. All I catch on is that he is talking about his brother, stopping him, saving him. From what? That part hazes out on me. I call out for him to wait for me, that I can help, but he doesn't stop. He looks injured and keeps telling me to stop following him. I want to help him. Something is driving me forward, but I can't get to him on time, and I watch him die in front of me. I don't know how. My heart cracks in my chest.

I wake up soaked in a cold sweat. The clock tells me that it's 5:32 AM and my heart is pounding.

Falling asleep again is determined impossible, and so I get out of bed and walk to the large mirror once again. Someone is supposed to be there. Someone else should be next to me. I feel so lost. I feel lost and I don't know how to find myself this time around. I go into the bathroom that is unnecessarily large for one person and take a shower, taking extra care to try to scrub off the broken pieces of me, but they still remain after the fact.

Something about where my sisters and I are now feels happier, as though there was a darker past to this life than I can remember, but I cannot reconcile the feelings with the emptiness. It echoes throughout my entire body, extending to my surroundings. It repeats the same thing over and over again. _Someone is missing. Someone is missing. _Like a scratched CD that can't be read past that point. _Someone is missing_. It echoes in the walls, in the empty spaces that I am not large enough to fill. They crush my chest, dare me to try to remember. I want to remember, but something is telling me that I can't. Protecting me from a pain that is too far away to grab ahold of.

There is a vanity positioned between the door to my walk-in closet and the door to my bathroom. I sit in the cushioned chair, run a comb through my wet hair, and wonder how I can ever fill the holes inside of me.

I hear a faint knock at my bedroom door. I rise to my feet, set the comb down. Instinct tells me it is Koan, and I pull it open to see her. "You're up early," she says with a cheerful smile. "How are things over at the west shop?"

I shrug, "Enough for me to handle alone. And the east shop?"

She heaves a sigh, "Rough. But if you're okay on your own, then we'll be okay with the three of us."

Talking about work is something I don't appreciate happening before eight, but I'm happy for her concern. At least my sisters can feel something other than confusion and emptiness. We go to the kitchen and I help her make breakfast. It almost feels normal, for a moment.

* * *

I'm on the bus alone again. It's colder outside, rainy. I won't have too many customers, and that's fine. The man from yesterday… Saphir, I think, gets on the bus and sits next to me again. His eyes are so, so red, but he smiles. "Good morning, Petz. I remembered correctly, didn't I?" I nod. "I'm glad."

"Are you okay?" I ask, finally building up the courage to question his puffy red eyes.

He takes a deep breath, steadies his shaking shoulders, "No, not really, but you don't need to worry about me." He fakes a smile.

"You can talk to me," I urge, feeling the need to help him.

"The woman I'm in love with doesn't remember me." He explains succinctly, "Something happened to her to make her forget her past and now she doesn't know who I am, and I don't want to scare her by approaching her and bringing it up."

I frown and place a hand over my heart, "That must be awful, I'm so sorry. How long have you known her?"

He drops his chin, "For years."

I reach out to grab his hand to comfort him. Something about that gesture feels familiar, even with this stranger who has shared a piece of his heart with me. "Talk to her," I say softly, encouraging him. "I'm sure she'll come back to you one way or another."

He tilts his head towards me. Smiles. "Thank you." He examines me, "You look beautiful today," and lifts his head again.

I glance down at my white blouse, juxtaposed to my dark green hair, which I am wearing down instead of in a bun, and blue jeans. I return his kind smile, "Thanks, Saphir."

The bus speakers ding, and I release his hand and stand up, "It was nice seeing you. Have a good day," I pass him a grin as I leave. When I look up again, he is crying. What did I do?

If I am right about anything, it is that I get hardly any customers throughout the day. The rain always puts a damper on sales – no one wants to stand in the rain for longer they have to, umbrella in hand or not - though we can't complain too much. It is when I'm reaching to pick up a sign that the wind blew over when I see a familiar flash of blue. I perk up and watch as he starts to walk by. I call out to him.

He slows and makes eye contact with me. The wind is tugging on his black umbrella, and he is biting his lip. His eyes are still red, and I think he's crying. He waves quickly with his free hand, but doesn't stop by.

I sigh, sit in the stool in the kiosk, and consider that maybe he doesn't really care. I'm just another person to listen to him talk. Arrogant, that man. Just like the rest of them. I don't allow his broken heart to serve as an appropriate excuse for being so cold to me, so I spend the rest of the day brooding about it. It's not his fault and I can't really blame him and keep a clear conscience at the same time, but I blame him anyway. The anger makes me feel alive, in a way.

I am packing up the kiosk, closing it down for the evening and locking up when everything starts to happen at once.

My head feels as though it's splitting in two and I become unstable and dizzy, and I can hear my heart pounding in my ears. Everything goes blurry and then black. The only thing I remember is feeling the thud of my knees hitting the pavement.

I wake up in my bed, my sisters surrounding me, varying looks of alarm on each of their faces. I wonder why I am not in the hospital as I slowly sit up. Calaveras supports me as I try to calm my pounding head. "What happened?"

Berthier looks down sadly, "You collapsed a few hours ago. We don't know why, but we found you inside the kiosk. You didn't hit your head, so we brought you back here until you woke up, and then we'd assess the damage from there."

"Now that you're awake," Koan continues as she stands up, "I think we should get you to a doctor."

I shake my head in defiance, "No, I'm fine. That's not necessary." I sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed, "I'm going on a walk."

The girls try to stop me, but I ignore them. I call over my shoulder for them to leave me alone for now, and they do.

I don't know what time it Is, only that it's dark outside. There are almost no lights on in any of the homes on our block, a few rooms on top floors lit up by faint lights. Doing work at a desk, reading in bed. Normal things that people do when they can't sleep, when they're stressed.

I continue walking. I don't know where I'm at after about an hour, but I know how to get home and it's all I care about. When I focus, I realize I am in a park. There's a large fountain in the center of it. I walk to it and take a seat, collecting my thoughts. Something feels just within reach, as though I just have to try a bit harder and I'll know everything I need to, but I'm not sure how to grasp it.

I cradle my head in my hands and lean over my thighs, trying not to scream. My head starts to split again and I let out a small yelp from the pain it causes. Tears stream down my eyes and the pain ends with me on my knees. I feel as though I am not alone, and my head jerks up, mind swimming, making me question if I am unsafe.

"Petz?" The familiar voice fills my ears, makes my heart beat faster, and all at once, I remember everything. The memories, and the pain they cause, are relentless. I vaguely feel Saphir wrap his arms around me, and he is on his knees now as well. He's whispering to me, comforting me. "I know, I know. I'm here." I don't even realize that I am sobbing.

I remember the sailor soldiers, who saved us from the hatred of the Black Moon. I remember my sisters, guided by the light of their love. I remember the cleansing and forgetting it all. I'm not supposed to remember it now, I was never supposed to remember it, but perhaps fate had another idea.

Finally, it all calms down. I fall back against the fountain, out of Saphir's grasp, my legs tucked under me. I can imagine what my expression resembles – clarity, and I reach out to grab his face. My smile is genuine and excited and my eyes are wide. "I remember you," I say with a happily broken voice. There are painful memories as well, and I remember them, but he is here and he is alive and I feel no sadness at all.

He begins to cry, and he kisses me, and I feel whole.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Me: Wants Petz/Saphir backstory. Me: Doesn't write Petz/Saphir backstory. I'm frustrating. ANYWAY, hey I hope you liked this quick little one shot thing. Heavily influenced by La Dispute's "Rooms of the House". I hope it wasn't too bad of a read. Um, review if you want. (But please do remember that this is a one shot. I am currently writing two multi-chapter fics and I don't need another one!)


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